After Hours vs. Extended Evening Hours

 

Disney recently announced the return of the popular Disney After Hours parties for dates in early 2024.  I wanted to talk about that here, but also put it in the context of Extended Evening Hours, which are both similar and different from the After Hours events.  We'll compare these and try to answer the age old question of whether one or both of these are "worth it" for the average visitor.

Disney loves to use similar terminology for their different offerings, so let's first be clear about what we're talking about here.  Disney After Hours (DAH) is a paid after party (separate from your daily admission to the parks) where guests can enjoy three hours of late night attractions, with lower crowds (and often much better temperatures).  Extended Evening Hours (EEH) are two hours that can be enjoyed by certain resort guests (which we'll get to below).  This is NOT a separate ticket - the only thing you need to show in this case is proof that you are staying at a qualified resort.  Neither of these offerings are themed, like a Halloween or Christmas party; there was a brief time where DAH had a villains theme, but that went away and had not yet returned, so for our purposes, we're only discussing the original, come as you are After Hours.

Columbus Day Crowd Report

 

Columbus Day (or Indigenous Peoples' Day, as some might call it now) is kind of a sneaky holiday at Disney World.  It's only one day, and not multiple days or an entire week, so most people think it won't be crowded.  But this is often incorrect - Columbus Day usually spikes crowds leading to long lines and frustration among guests.

I haven't done a crowd report in a while, so I thought I would take a look at the crowds from last week, leading up to and beyond Columbus Day.  I wanted to see what the crowd levels were like, how they compared to last year and what this might all mean for the coming, always busy holiday seasons.  I found a few things that surprised me this year, so let's dig into the numbers.

FULL Park Hopping Returns (Plus Price Increases)

Disney put out a bunch of announcements yesterday about its parks, and as is often the case, there is both good news and bad news.  We're going to look at both here, and talk about why they are happening now and what it might still mean (in terms of bad news!) in the future.

Disney has a habit of "softening the blow" by announcing price increases or cutbacks along with some news that is objectively good.  In this case, it's no different, and I'm going to start with that good news - all day park hopping is back at Disney World!  Starting January 9, 2024 (remember this date), park hopping is really, truly back to normal for those that have hopper tickets or annual passes.